24 July 2015. 200 Years of Emma
This year, while Jane Austen’s Emma has its 200th birthday, one of its modern reincarnations is 20 years old.
Clueless, directed by Amy Heckerling, transported the insular community of Highbury, an early 19th-century English village, to a Beverley Hills high school. A step too far? ‘As if!’ to quote Cher, the modern equivalent of Jane Austen’s privileged heroine.
Cher and her friends are instantly recognisable types and, at the same time, well-drawn characters. The social order of high school comes across vividly, as does Cher’s sudden dawning of self-awareness.
For me and many others, this film is a classic – just like its inspiration. I look forward to celebrating Clueless at thirty, forty – and beyond!
